Ithiss
Background Ithiss is an aarakocra; a secretive, isolated race who are known for their brilliant plumage and isolationist values. He was born into the aerie known as the Ishkari; these aarakocra are spiritualistic, highly xenophobic, and authoritarian, ruled by a council of priest-lords, who speak for their goddess, Avalee, and whose will is law. Transgressions among the Ishkari, even minor, were punishable by torture, and in the more extreme cases, execution. This upbringing made Ithiss inherently paranoid and distrustful; he spent his entire life believing the outside world was monstrous, heretical, and that outsiders were never to be trusted. He believed the doctrines of the Ishkari completely and utterly, and never questioned the priest-lords, serving with zealotry and faithfulness. He lived in ignorance, perfectly content with it all the same. He would have never left the confines of the temple were it not for the intervention of greater, darker powers. In his early adulthood, Ithiss began to feel the presence of some dark, malevolent entity of unknown origin calling out to him in his sleep. Mortified by this, he tried his best to remain awake as long as physically possible while he pondered a solution. As he did this, Ithiss began to grow haggard; his feathers were mottled and falling out, and he began to grow lucid from lack of sleep. Meanwhile, far to the south, the invasion of Bremwick had been repelled by a group of "heroes", and the tales managed to reach even the isolated Ishkari. Believing he would be executed if others noticed his curse, Ithiss fled the temple southward, seeking these outsiders, for he knew literally no others who could help him. He despised the thought, for there were warlocks and dwarves among this group, but it was the only plan he could devise. Ithiss had a younger sister, Iirii, who studied the outside world and paid the ultimate price for it. He is reluctant to speak of her. Joining the party Ithiss travelled very far to Bremwick, passing through the savage Fathomwood, the desolate Ignis Tracts, and the Ceresian Steppes, finally arriving in the city as the winter months came to a close. Along the way, he kept interaction with outsiders to a minimum. Once in the city of Bremwick, Ithiss sought out the heroes who had saved the city, trying very hard not to be noticed by civilians admiring his vibrant plumage. He came to the Swine and Pearl, a small tavern in the lower quarter, where the saviors of Bremwick were rumored to be staying. The disciple was greeted by Mincinos, and Ithiss was overcome with reluctance to share his motivations for arriving. He asked the party if he could travel with them for a time, noting his skills as a healer and wielder of divine magic, and keeping his origins hidden for a time. The others accepted, having just lost a rogue companion of theirs, and together they set off for the Leviathan Expanse. Acquiring the quill While the party traversed the frigid, dangerous Leviathan Expanse, they came across a small lake. Ithiss's presence had been urging him in this direction for quite some time; and from the lake a great mass of tentacles emerged, carrying two artifacts. One of these, the Leviathan Edge, was an axe given to Navek; the other, a plain, wooden staff with notches going up two of its sides. This was in fact the Quill of Avalee, and it is said to be the key to the aarakocra's return to the plane of air, their original native plane. Upon touching the quill, Ithiss felt immense, immediate relief; and for a time, this continued. Some time later, the party was taking place in the goliath tribes' annual Hordebreaker ritual, where the tribes send champions and their allies to fight for the title of Hordebreaker. During this challenge, they came across an eagle spirit, who was an objective of theirs to kill and win its favor. Upon dealing the final blow with a guiding bolt spell, Ithiss heard the eagle spirit speak to him telepathically. The eagle spirit spoke the following words, which Ithiss recorded in his journal: "As you hold questions but no answers, so too do you hold the '''Quill' but no Plumes. Seek that what you do not have. Question those who know more than you. Trust that which keeps you alive.'' Soothe your anger blind one, you've left your enemies in '''Ishkar'—'but they will hunt you for your Faith.'"'' The meaning behind most of this remains unclear, but it is assumed that Ithiss must seek the plumes of Avalee and insert them into the quill. This was later confirmed by Sarka Carkolla, upon the party's return to Adiaco. Ithiss had now become the latest of many seekers, a title given to the few aarakocra who seek the quill and its plumes, the only ones who can return the aarakocra to their original home, the elemental plane of air. Soon after the party's arrival in Bremwick, Ithiss came across an aarakocra dockworker named Kurruku; upon seeing his kin, Ithiss was taken over by the entity and reached for his weapon, then fell convulsing onto the street. Kurruku took him in and nursed the cleric back to health; four days later, Ithiss awoke, giving the dockworker a fake name out of mistrust. However, the entity took hold of Ithiss once more, and the cleric grabbed Kurruku and drained something described as "an aura, like heat waves on pavement" from him. Kurruku's eyes turned milky white, he mumbled something about laying down, and perished within seconds. Reincarnation Months later, the party arrived at the Whispering Temple, where they activated a gateway to Shadowfell. The quill played a part in activating the gateway, as did the Leviathan Edge, and as it drew closer to the gateway a gust of wind could be felt around the arm of its wielder, and minor key musical tones began to emit from the quill, almost like a sad lullaby. While inside Shadowfell, Ithiss was taken over by an emotion leech, which devoured his brain and took over his body, and then attacked Rosie, nearly killing her. Mincinos muttered and apology and then incinerated Ithiss, leaving the aarakocra a mangled corpse on the floor. During the party's escape from Shadowfell, Ithiss appeared on the shores of the river styx, where thousands and thousands of spirits waited for a boat that would never come. He and the spirit of Kurruku waited for some time; soon after, Navek appeared beside them, newly imbued with memories that would otherwise remain forgotten. At the same time, Mincinos, Kaleb, and Rosie had escaped from Shadowfell, but both Ithiss and Navek remained dead on the ground outside the gateway. Mincinos used Navek's scroll of reincarnation on Ithiss, hoping to have the cleric resurrect Navek as well. The spell reincarnated the aarakocra into a new form: a tortle. What happens next remains to be seen; Ithiss will most likely be incredibly displeased at the loss of his wings. Personality Ithiss, in his time with the Ishkari, was similar to any other of his order; arrogant, proud, and hateful towards all outsiders, even his kin in other aeries. However, he was incredibly paranoid, carefully planning every action he took for fear of repercussions, and adhering blindly to tradition. Driven to flee out of pure desperation, he felt horror even leaving the confines of his home, dreading any interaction with other races. He did not even trust the people he was traveling to meet; they were infidels and practitioners of foul magic. But what other choice did he have? He dreaded the entity that was calling out to him much more. But after traveling with the party for some time, he began to question what he knew; the outsiders were friendly enough, and certainly not monsters. They welcomed him, fought with him, and were even kind to him. Nobody in the Ishkari had been kind to him often, if at all. Ithiss soon realized that for the first time in his life, he had people he cared about; people he could call "friends." He remained careful, but over the following months, he began to trust his companions with more information. In time, he even came to them for help with his curse when he could no longer manage it safely. And as the months went by, Ithiss's carefully constructed walls began to fall, and he came to realize that the priest-lords were wrong, these people were not monsters, and the priest-lords themselves were potentially more evil and twisted than the outsider races. Though he continued to act with caution and slight fear, Ithiss had begun to question the doctrines of the Ishkari, and felt truly free, for the first time in all his years. It was around this time his alignment changed from lawful evil to neutral good. Speculation The identity of the presence that guides Ithiss and sometimes takes him over completely remains a mystery. It could be Avalee herself, or perhaps Avalos, or even the Raven Queen. In addition, the quill is saturated with a form of unknown magic, similar to divination but mutated, more natural. It is not of the material plane. The quill itself is sentient, but is likely not the one manipulating Ithiss; his distance to it is irrelevant, he can always feel the pull of his benefactor, and the quill does not contain enough inherent magic to be that powerful. The entity is likely connected to the leviathans and Ymir in some way. When Kaleb cast "detect evil and good" on Ithiss, he did not notice anything overwhelming; upon closer examination, however, there was black, wispy smoke emanating from the aarakocra's eyes, barely noticeable.